Mississauga half report

on Monday, May 11, 2009 at 9:58 PM

Hmm, what do i have to say about the race? I've done the half course three times previously and done the full twice. I set out to do this in 1:55 which is the pace i need to hold for a 3:50 full. Just for future google reference for anyone that takes the 403 to Square One on race morning, do not exit at Hurontario St. as it'll take you forever to get into the parking lot. I made this mistake for two years when it took me 45 minutes to get from the offramp to a parking space. Exit at Mavis Rd and get onto Rathburn and approach Square One from the south. Much faster.

So race starts, as usual, I started out too fast and hit the first km at 5:09 when it should have been 5:27. Was able to settle down though. Clicked through the k's steadily, though with each passing km, the need to use a porta potty would increase. I spent most of the race trying to figure out if I could hold it till the end. They seemed to only have the odd PP setup through the course and it always was occupied. Just after the 19km mark, there was a bank of about 6 or 7 PP, all of which were empty and I considered this a sign from above that I wouldn't make it to the end without an "incident" so I took my bathroom break. After leaving, I was well behind schedule so I decided to race to the end and try and pass as many people as i could. I forgot to hit the stop button on my garmin at the end, so I don't have a pace for the last km. I do recall seeing a 4:06/km average pace when i glanced at the garmin at some point. Finish time of 1:54:10.

Stuck around the finish line to see Yumke finish. I wasn't sure if he was trying for a BQ so I wanted to wait in the offchance he was. I got all nostalgic when 3:11:09 rolled around on the race clock since that was my gun time when i crossed that same finish line last year. Saw Kenny cross at around 3:25 and then also got to witness a forumite from running mania cross the finish line who was going for a BQ (which she got!).

BTW, I ran this race with a bandage on my scrapped knee and suprisingly the thing stayed on for the whole race. I was walking around all funny prior to the race trying to keep the thing from falling off and it looks like i didn't need to cause the thing was not coming off anyways!

4 comments:

yumke said...

Thanks for sticking around taking the picture. Love it. When you pace, you can always hand your sign off to another unner and deputize them for a bit while you take a porta potty break.. (or under hydrate!)

Wow, you've done this race in some form for six times? Crazy...

Sonia said...

Ah you saw Lightning finish! How cool! =)

Good job on your half, are you running Ottawa full??

jen said...

Nailed it as usual. You are a machine.

I felt the same way in Eugene when I watched the marathoners come in around my time.. It sucked missing Boston this year and I'd really like to requalify and go back.

Congrats again man!! :)

Arcane said...

Yes I'm doing the Ottawa full.

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